State of West Virginia invests in double duop deal

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SoldNick Fantasia has a two-AM, two-FM station cluster centered in the Fairmont portion of the Morgantown-Clarksburg-Fairmont WV market. It is being sold to Spectrum Radio Fairmont, with the state’s West Virginia Jobs Investment Trust Board taking a 19% position in the new owner.


Fantasia has two licensee names in use in the market. SRF will be getting WTCS-AM/WRLF-FM from Fairmont Broadcasting Company, and WMMN-AM/WZST-FM from Fantasia Broadcasting Inc.

SRF is comprised of Alan Michaels and Robert Woodward, who each will hold 40.5% of the company. WVJITB, as previously noted, will hold the rest.

The price will be $1.25M. $50K will go into escrow, another $750K will be paid in cash at closing and a promissory note will be written to cover the remaining $450K.

There are two other monetary elements to the deal:

SRF will pay $50K for the cluster’s accounts receivable. If they fail to reach a total of at least $75K, SRF will receive a $2 discount off the purchase price for every $1 the receivables are short of the $75K goal.

The other element is a definite switcheroo from the norm. It is not uncommon for the seller in a broadcast transaction to be retained for a period of time as a consultant. But in this case, one of the buyers – Woodward – will receive a $2.5K per month consultant fee for his assistance in running the stations until closing occurs.
Fairmont is in the middle of the three-pronged market, south of Morgantown and north of Clarksburg. Here’s a look at the stations:

* WTCS-AM Fairmont, “The Talk of Fairmont,” is a Class C on 1490 kHz with 1 kW-U, ND, and is local to Fairmont.

* WRLF-FM Fairmont, “West Virginia’s Classic Rock Powerhouse,” is a Class A on 94.3 MHz with 3.6 kW @ 249’. It is also basically local to Fairmont, although its contour edges up to both other municipalities.

* WMMN-AM Fairmont, Fox Sports, is a Class D on 5 kW-D, 200 W-N, ND. It gets the full market, but only when the sun is up.

* WZST-FM Westover, “Variety 101,” is a Class A on 100.9 MHz with 3 kW @ 266’, and serves Fairmont and Morgantown, but doesn’t reach down to Clarksburg.

RBR-TVBR observation: For would-be station buyers out there, the mission off WVJITB deserves a mention. It was formed by the WV state legislature “to make investment funds available to eligible businesses that would stimulate economic growth and promote or retain jobs in the state.” It’s nice to see such a government entity being put to good use for a radio deal. Maybe there’s a similar organization in your state, and if there isn’t, maybe there should be.